Life Is Constantly Getting Weirder
by Haru Urameshi
Summary: A simple study abroad trip turns out to be so much more for Yusuke's cousin. She finds secrets about her family, the world and herself. No pairings. Rated M for language. R&R. Six years after the Makai Tournament.
1. Did I Mention I HATE HEIGHTS!

Disclaimer: Isn't it self-explanatory. Well, anyways, I DON'T OWN YU YU HAKUSHO or its characters, although I may hope it were otherwise.

Sorry people, but there are going to be a lot of changes in point of view during the first half of the chapter, but after that it might get better. Don't worry, though. I let you know the point of view.

Also, do not take my religious incorpation in the second or third chapter offensively. It was not written to be so. It was written for the sake of fun, but not at anyone's expense.

If you somehow find it offensive, well then, I imagine you cannot go through your life an hour without being offended. That's your problem.

Also, sorry that this chapter is so long.

Chapter 1: Did I Mention I HATE HEIGHTS?!

Haruko Urameshi's POV

"Whoa? What was that thing?" I exclaimed in surprise. I saw a burst of speed faster than anything I'd ever seen come from what I believed to be an oversized bird.

That's a pretty damn fast bird considering its size. Actually, that's pretty fast for any bird period. Aren't hummingbirds the fastest birds on the planet? That thing moved a hell of a lot faster than any hummingbird I'd ever seen.

Hiei's POV

Hn. It's as if she felt my eyes on her. That's not too unusual, but she saw me move. That's something no normal human could hope to accomplish at a distance of two paces let alone ten. I had been watching her for a little while, listening to her internal monologue. Sometimes it was amusing to listen to the worries and activities (AN: you better not be thinking that way) of idiotic human beings. Following her was more entertaining than anything else he had to do anyway. Why did have to end up stuck here again following some girl named Haru.

Haru's POV

Must be my imagination playing tricks on me, again. I shake my head, hoping to clear it. First at home, then at the university and now here. Even in Japan, I can't stop these stupid weird things. You know, a lot of coincidental and just plain weird things happen that I can't explain, and its starting to creep me out, because in some certain situations it's just not normal. Some of the things I've seen would make most peoples' eyes fly right on out of their sockets. As much as I like being abnormal, I like having a sense of stability in my life. Some people are good at shrugging things off. Well, I'm not. It's probably because I don't occupy myself with enough activities. I feel uncomfortable around most people, because I don't like them judging me. They think they know me before they get to speak to me. Too many people have been jerks to me for a bunch of stupid reasons. I have problems with most people, because most people lie to me, hate me because I don't follow the crowd, hate me for being better at something than they are, and before for just being happy. I'm not the happy person I used to be, and whenever I am someone is determined to ruin it for me. The one thing I can say is that I appreciate happiness much more than I ever did, because it is rare, and because it is rare I consider it a true treasure. Wow, I rant too much. Anyway, what was I doing? Well, maybe I'm just losing my mind, because whenever I see, do, or hear these unexplainable things no one else can. Rrr, great, just another thing to worry about. In consideration of all the other things I've seen, though, this isn't too weird. The only weird thing is this feeling I'm getting. Oh joy, that can't be good. I always get this feeling before something strange happens. It's a good thing I don't tell anyone about this kind of stuff or they'd think I was nuts. I mean, seeing a guy you're getting in a fight with that has horns isn't particularly normal. It has to be only my overly active imagination.

Hmm, I wonder what the place I'm staying at will look like. It sure is far away. Let's look at the directions…

"What?! How the hell am I supposed to find a place in the middle of a forest?"

Sure I knew the paths where I lived, even the really small unmarked ones, but this place was huge, and I'd never been here before. Great, I'll probably end up on a whole different island. Why does this place have to be in the middle of nowhere? I have nothing against nature, except for maybe some of the bugs, however I don't want to go on a hike to get to my place of residence with all my stupid baggage. Stupid school people, they didn't even bother to tell me I'd have to hike through the forest. Well, I'm not turning back now. Good thing I have a very decent sense of direction.

Hiei's POV

Hn. She seems to be trying to find someplace. She must not be from around here. There isn't anything down the way she appeared to be going. She returned to relaxed thought again. I'm listening to her every thought for whatever reason I do not know or care. Indeed, she was a strange human. I had seen some of the things she had seen when she had been thinking about weird things that had happened in her past. Apparently, she's been in a fight with a pretty pathetic demon and sadly beat him. How pathetic. Of course, she doesn't know this. She just suspected it was her overly active imagination. It was impressive for a human I'll admit. Even though, the demon was pathetic by my standards, the fact that she'd beat this demon so easily did say a lot for her and I felt more respect for the girl and contempt for the demon. What am I doing? I must be pretty bored to be following a ningen around. Blast it Kurama, when does this human school end? Then again, she isn't your average ningen. There's something different about her that's hard to grasp.

Haru's POV

Let's see… I can do this. I'm good at this sort of thing. I was always the navigator on car trips, even if it was because I was the only other person in the car. Oh crap, the path forks.

"What the hell?! I swear the big guy up there is against me. The directions don't say anything about this. Hmm, I wonder if I could…"

Glancing at a nearby tree, I notice the tree is taller than most of the others. Hoping to get a better view, I start climbing up the tree. As usual it didn't bother me at first, but after a while I got nervous being up so high.

"Shit, I'm up high. Dammit, I hate heights."

Ugh, I'm being a baby. What's more important: not getting lost forever or stop climbing the tree so you won't be afraid? Then there is always another way of looking at it. What's more important: not getting lost or climbing a tree, snapping one of its branches and falling to your death? OH, SHUT UP. Sometimes, I hate my brain. It's not always very good at helping me out in these situations. Why do I always have to rationalize things?

"Dammit, I'm up in this tree already, and I'm not going to have climbed it for nothing."

I decided to continue up the tree until I got to the branches that I was sure couldn't support my weight. I looked around for a building. Notta

"Great, I did climb up here for nothing. Just perfect, now I feel really stupid. Now all I have to do is climb down and don't look down."

I just told myself not to look down. So, WHY in bloody hell am I looking down? Simple. I just couldn't resist the temptation and I'm a bloody moron. Why is it when anyone and I mean ANYONE tells me not to do something, including myself, I have this terrible urge to do it? This time it overcame me. "Oh, shiiiit…"

I held on to the tree for dear life. Maybe this really was a bad idea. Ugh, I don't know. To reinforce my next thought I said it aloud. "I'm gonna be stuck here forever if I don't suck it up and climb down."

I reluctantly willed myself with the rational half of my brain to climb down the tree and the further I went down the more my pace quickened until I jumped to the ground from the last branch. My legs were shaking. Not visibly, but I could feel it. ManI'm such a wimpI stood there and leaned up against the tree waiting for my anxiety to ebb away. Now, I was proud that I had done it, no matter how dumb the back of my mind dictated that I was for doing it in the first place.

"Phew, I made it. Piece a cake."

Hiei's POV

Watching her in amusement, a rare grin is stretching across my face. She is clearly terrified of high heights. What reason did one have to worry about that? Even if you were clumsy enough to fall, it would only cause temporary pain. You probably wouldn't even break anything. Then again she was just a frail human, and there was much greater risk, including death, if she had fallen from such a height. The girl seemed to be nearing Genkai's temple. Strange. Why would this girl's school send her there? I'm just following this girl out of sheer curiosity. It's not as if I have anything better to do until the fox was back from his human school anyway. I am beginning to believe Yusuke, that this school was a place of torture, even if it wasn't the physical kind. She's still making a decision of which path to take. She has no way of knowing which way to go. If she takes one way it will lead to Genkai's. However, if she takes the other way she'll have a lot more to fear than climbing trees, but she, of course, doesn't know that. She seemed to start to pick the wrong way, then abruptly stopped, and is now taking the other path. She got lucky. She is talking to herself aloud again.

"Jeez, where the heck am I? I'm starting to think this whole study abroad thing was a bad idea. It must be at least two already! If I don't find this place soon, I'm gonna go back."

In her mind I can tell that she is too stubborn to go back. She couldn't go back. She'd put so much time into finding this place to just go back. I hear her logic complain about the possibility of her being stuck out here after nightfall, and I could tell she didn't want to be alone out here at night. Still, she is far too determined to give up.

Haru's POV

"I must be halfway to Kyoto by now. How the hell am I supposed to get to and from school everyday?"

I walked on for a few more kilometers. I was getting more impatient by the minute and I was getting hungry, too. My stomach growled as a stone formation in the distance became identified as a giant flight of stairs.

"Let's make Haru do more exercise than she's ever done in all her life."

Okay, so I haven't always been this way. In fact, there was a time when I would have skipped meals to run up and down that flight of stairs for the sheer enjoyment of a challenge. Back then, having sighted them, I would have been excited and would have challenged someone to a race up the stairs. No wonder my teachers and classmates had been convinced I was an alien. Yes, even the teachers. What the heck happened? Those times were gone, though. I'm lazy now. It just isn't fun when people won't accept your challenges anymore, because they are sure of defeat. Having no competition, I have morphed into a couch potato like many other kids, since my mother has never allowed me to play sports. Mom is afraid I'm going to get hurt supposedly. Give me a break. I've never broken a bone in my life. At the rate I'm going, I probably never will. Thanks mom. Now, being my lazy self, all I could manage was an exasperated groan. As far as I was concerned, I had attended and participated in all my gym classes. I shouldn't have to do this kind of crap anymore. I began trudging up the stairs with my three bags. One was all school stuff and weighed about forty pounds. The other two carried my other belongings, and weighed approximately twenty pounds each. No doubt I must look a wreck. In my mental eye, I can see the sweat covering me from head to toe and my hair a big tangled mess that was no doubt frizzy from the breezes I encountered from the treetops.

"Jeez, I probably smell horrible right about now."

I hated climbing those stairs with an excess of eighty pounds. It certainly wasn't fun. I'd already been lugging them around the whole dayOkay, so I could afford to lose a couple pounds, but it wasn't as if I were fat or anything. I just need to tone up. I'm naturally athletic and that has gotten me through gym class with straight A's unlike my other friends back home, who haven't quite hit the genetic lottery even if some do look fitter than I do. They always cheer me on, and are amused when I beat the snobby jocks (most are anyway) and hear them grumble about me. Now, I was up the stairs and relieved to find the temple was only thirty paces away. "Yes! Finally!"

I've only been walking for about four or five hours. I rapped on the door. An old woman came and slid open the shoji. She was very short, shorter than my own grandmother and probably around the same age. She didn't seem altogether happy, as if she were expecting something she wasn't overly enthusiastic to receive. "Welcome, it's about time you got here. My name is Genkai, and this is where I live." I didn't like her tone of voice, but at least I knew I'd found the right place. It would have really sucked to have come this far and have gotten a 'Sorry, you've got the wrong house.'

"Old lady, look. I'm sorry I was late, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to take even half as long as it did to get here. The school gave me some pretty crappy directions and I must have walked at least fifteen kilometers to get here. I had to lug about eighty pounds of luggage all the way here, and that isn't fun. By the way, you need an escalator."

I don't think she was the kind of person who was fond of excuses or sarcasm, but she got both anyway. I'm sorry, but I'd had a rough day. Somehow, I expected she would hit me over the head or yell at me, but she didn't. What can I say? She looked like one of those kind of people. Maybe, she was nicer than I thought.

"So, they had you come the long way."

"I'd say. There's got to be a faster way to get to and from the school if I'm expected to be there on time."

She looked very serious and still looked slightly peeved. Then, why did something tell me she was laughing her head off inside? Oh well.

"There is. It takes about ten minutes to walk to the bus stop, and from there the bus ride is twenty to thirty minutes depending on traffic."

"I'm going to hurt them," I grumbled.

I don't know if she took me seriously or not. The look on her face remained unreadable. Damn. I hate not being able to pick up on people's feelings. Her face was a mask. She must have learned to hide her emotions with age. No matter how hard I tried sometimes I could not hide the way I felt. I didn't act out, but my emotions played out clearly on my face. The only thing I had learned to control so far was to stop myself from crying and that had taken a long time. Someone else came in behind me, very quietly. I almost didn't notice. Him and the old woman just looked at each other briefly and went about their business. I guess that was how they greeted each other.

"Well, he's certainly the friendly type."

Wow, I was being rude today, but honestly I didn't care. The old woman didn't seem to mind it too much. She just looked a little annoyed by it. I didn't care if she was annoyed, because I was annoyed right now, too. What was it with the short people? Two in one day. However, oddly, the new one seemed familiar to me from somewhere, but I couldn't figure out where from. The feeling was very vague. I remembered to take off my shoes before entering, since it was a Japanese custom. She seemed marginally satisfied that I knew about that.

"Come in, Haruko. I'll show you to your room."

She didn't seem as annoyed as before, but she still obviously wasn't enthusiastic. Wait, how did she know my name? Guess the school gave it to her. Leave it to them to give her more information than they gave me. Ugh, I hated being called by my full name.

"Just call me Haru. That's what everyone else does."

At least she didn't call me Ms. Urameshi. I hate that. When people call you by your last name, it just seems so impersonal, but it was the custom in Japan. She led me to my room and I followed quietly after that.

"Thanks…Genkai."

She just looked at me and then left. I suppose she expected me to get unpacked and so I did. A weird place with a weird woman. Not saying that I'm normal or anything, but even now my surroundings aren't normal. Oh, and don't forget about the weird guy. Don't think I didn't notice that the guy had red eyes. That's not normal. And what's with the hair? I've never even seen hair like that before, and I didn't smell any hair gel. As if that weren't weird enough, he was wearing a katana. Isn't that illegal? Maybe, I'm mistaken. Whatever. As long as he doesn't try to kill me with it, it's not my problem. I'm not the stupid cops. After I was done, I wandered around, motivated partly by trying to find the strange old woman, and partly by the desire to acquaint myself with my surroundings. I found that the place wasn't as big as I originally thought it was, and now that I could relax, I took in the scenery, which was truly beautiful. I was content to sit there and watch the sun set, and without my knowing it so was someone else, but they were also watching me in interest. Fortunately for them, I didn't know, because I had felt as if I was being watched the entire day, and I wasn't particularly happy about it. It left me feeling unsettled. I left to go find the old lady after almost all of the color had drained from the sky. I wonder what she does with all this land. Back home, you only had this much land if you were a celebrity or a farmer. She definitely wasn't a farmer, and I wasn't betting on her being a celebrity. I imagined her dressed up as a farmer and started laughing at the mental image of her milking a cow. I don't know why it was so funny, it just was. Apparently, they didn't know what was so funny, either. I guess they weren't used to laughter around here, because as I entered the next room, I had every one of its occupants staring at me. Maybe it's just because I'm new.

"Sorry, just thinking about something."

So, other people were here, too. I wonder if they all live here, because they don't look related. Well, maybe two of them, but that's it. The first one to speak was a guy with long red hair and really green eyes. I had to admit that he was cute, but a little girly for my tastes. I caught an amused look from the one called Hiei. I resisted the urge to glare at him and only had a prolonged glance in his direction, though often my stares are misinterpreted as glares. What can I say? I just have one of those faces that normally look angry unless I'm smiling. Something told me he knew what I was thinking, but I ignored it. Is it just me, or does everyone lately seem to know something I don't? That's annoying. Anyway…

"My name is Suichi Minamino, but I am also referred to as Kurama."

I wasn't sure of which one to call him. "Do you have a preference?"

"My friends normally call me Kurama, but at school I go by Suichi."

"Well, we're not at school, so Kurama it is for now. My name is Haru. It's nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure."

He bowed. Wow, he's so formal and gentlemanlike. I awkwardly bowed back.

"So, you're Kurama, that's Hiei, and who are you?" I asked a green-haired girl. Talk about weird occurrences. I thought it was weird to have red eyes. Well, not only did she have red eyes, she had green hair that appeared to be natural. Maybe I really am losing it. I was going to ask her if she and Hiei were related when I received a sudden death glare from Hiei. Wow, he's upset about something. I wonder what's bugging you, Hiei. It seemed to be directed at me. I was surprised, and slightly offended. What's his problem? Then, in my head I heard, 'If you ask that question I will kill you.' Oh great, if I wasn't worried for my sanity beforehand I certainly was now. I'm going schizo. Just lovely. Kurama looked from me to Hiei uneasily, trying to surmise what the problem was.

"Is something wrong?" the girl asked. I'm not one for stupid questions, but I'll answer anyway.

"Uhhh, nothing."

I switched my gaze from him to her. It appears that I'm not the only one with family issues.

"Well, anyway, my name is Yukina."

If they are related, it must be a distant relation judging by the differences in their attitudes.

"So, I guess it's nice to have met you all," I said that and looked directly at Hiei in a way to show him that I was not intimidated by him, but I would respect his wishes if those were his wishes. I still wasn't entirely convinced I wasn't out of my mind. In any case, that guy's definitely not the friendly type. I continued, "So, um, what's the deal with dinner?"

As I said that, I heard a bell ring, and Yukina shuffled off into the kitchen. This was certainly not going to be a dull next couple of months, but then again when I get involved nothing ever goes as it should. Everything is always more complicated, or at least it seems that way. It's my first day here and I've already managed to piss one of them off unintentionally. I'm good at unintentionally pissing people off. Right now, I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask the old lady, but I'll wait until I can talk to her alone. After dinner, I had stuff to do, though. Evil stuff called homework.

Thanks for reading and please review. I've been having trouble structuring my story and any suggestions would help. I've been playing around with having thoughts in italics, but I'm not sure if that makes it confusing as well. Also, I don't find it necessary to flame people so please don't; however, constructive criticism is always welcome. Hope you enjoyed it. I like a lot of insight into characters thoughts which may be less preferable to other people based on their style. Feel free to comment.


	2. Demons Don't Get Rabies

Disclaimer: Isn't it self-explanatory. Well, anyways, I DON'T OWN YU YU HAKUSHO or its characters, although I may hope it were otherwise.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with no further ado, I must present…

CHAPTER 2: Demon's Don't Get Rabies

Haru's POV

I got up really early the next morning since I went to bed early. Trekking in the woods for that length of time with all that crap made me sleep sound, even more so than I usually do. I woke up at about five o'clock. It was a good thing, because I had never gotten the chance to take a shower last night. Funny thing was I couldn't find the shower or tub. All they had in their bathrooms was a toilet and a sink. Well, it was a shrine. Perhaps, there were some hot springs around here some place. So I wandered around in my pajamas until I found my clothing, a towel and the hot springs. They were down by the way I had come up the stairs the other day. I had walked by it yesterday, but I had been too exasperated to notice. I wasn't really worried about anyone being down here considering how early in the morning it was, and it didn't seem as if anyone had gotten up yet when I had left the temple. I washed myself quickly and then put on my modified version of the school uniform. I was wearing pants instead of a skirt. If anyone had a problem with that they would be taking it up with me, and it would get resolved one way or another. I'm not going to adhere to stupid gender stereotypes.

I returned to finish my normal daily routine to find everyone up and dressed. They seemed surprised by my entry. I guess they thought I was still in bed. After I was finished upstairs, I came back down and asked, "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Cereal. Pick one," Genkai said in a manner that suggested she wasn't a morning person. Not feeling in the mood to argue with the scary woman due to my so far peaceful morning, I picked out Life cereal and ate quietly, except for the small conversation I held with Kurama and Hiei. At least I think Hiei was participating. I'm guessing he's a guy who doesn't talk very much, and getting an occasional "Hn" out of him counts as him participating in a conversation. Either that or he plain just doesn't like me. If he doesn't like me, that doesn't bother me much. I'm used to it so I'm not going to dwell on it. A lot of the time I don't get along with people, even though I try. Let's just say I'm not into the compromising side of a friendship. It's my way or the highway, most of the time. He seems to be that way, too, which will probably cause greater tensions between me and him sooner or later.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Kurama inquired carefully and courteously as always.

"Huh? Oh, you mean the pants. I think forcing girls to wear skirts is stupid, and I feel like expressing my opinion of the matter."

"Hn,"said Hiei, who seemed slightly amused by this.

"He's laughing at me, isn't he? You know what, I'm sorry, but I don't take to playing the damsel in distress, and that's all I'd be able to do in that stupid skirt. If I'm in trouble, I'm gonna do something about it, not just sit there and cry."

"Hn. I didn't realize this school is such a dangerous place," the spiky-haired, katana-owning Goth actually spoke a whole sentence.

"Not so much dangerous, I'm just not giving anyone the chance to flip up my skirt. In any case, it doesn't hurt to be prepared especially if I were to get into a fight with someone or something," I replied in light of my new knowledge of the existence of demons.

It didn't look like I was going to get a more substantial response from the guy. He had an unreadable look on his face. He looked angry, but he always looked angry so that didn't really mean anything unless he looked more angry than usual. Hm, I have another thing I want to do before I die. I want to see Hiei laugh. He doesn't come across to me as one who has actually wholeheartedly laughed his head off in a long time. Me and my weird life goals. (AN: This is not a HieixOC fanfic. This character can't stand it when people don't talk or display emotion.).

Kurama and I walked to the bus station. I was a little disappointed when I found out that he was going to a different school than me. Great, now I'm not going to know anyone there. (AN: Not a KuramaxOC fic either).

"So, which school do you go to? I can tell you don't go to the same school as I do. Your uniform is different," I observed.

He nodded and replied, "I go to Meiou, and I take it from what you're wearing that you are going to Sariayashiki."

"Yep. Pity I won't know anyone there."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," he reassured me.

"We'll see." I said, not quite convinced. "Sometimes school and I just don't mix."

He gave me a curious glance. "You seem dedicated enough to do your homework."

"It's not that. Well, it is, and it isn't. The only reason I do this stuff is to make mom happy. Usually, I don't get along well with people, either." I explained, and then offered hope. "Maybe things are different in Japan. I usually don't have too many problems with the teachers, except a couple. However, I don't usually get along with the other students, especially the girls."

Wishing me well, he said. "Well, good luck, then."

With that he got off the bus and began to walk the rest of the distance to school. My school was after the next stop. Good luck, he had said. Good luck I was going to need. I decided to try and be optimistic about the whole thing. If I was already convinced that it would go horribly, it would probably not disappoint me. At least, that's what all those psychological shows say.

What was I thinking? All I did was set myself up for a fall. The moment I walked off the bus, I passed a group of girls, who judging by their uniforms were going to the same destination as me. A couple of them were looking at me funny. If the looks I was receiving weren't bad enough, a guy had to come by and open his big fat yap and piss me off.

"Ah! Is that a girl or a guy?" he said in a snide tone.

As I said earlier, if anyone had a problem with my uniform, the problem would get settled. I smiled in a sarcastic way, and remarked, "I guess there still are chauvinists in this era."

He obviously didn't know what the hell a chauvinist was, and I honestly didn't care. It did shut him up for a while, thankfully. The statement didn't exactly fit with the situation, but one big word I knew would be enough to leave him confused and a little embarrassed.

Maybe it was an overly critical comment, but I wanted to make sure I said something he wouldn't understand, as well as those other people who were looking at me in a disagreeable way. I glared at a lot of them, which made some look away, others get mad, and others just stare at me all the more. I was glad when I finally got to the office. Then, all I had to deal with were the teachers. In the office, I still received strange looks, but they were craftier at hiding them. They had experience. I asked one of the secretaries where Mr. Takenaka was, and she promptly told me that he was in his office, and that it was okay to enter. I knocked on the door before entering. He had been respectful towards me the other day, so I would be respectful to him.

"You may come in," he called from inside the room.

I walked in and shut the door to get the discreet stares off my back.

"Ah, I see, Ms. Urameshi. You need your schedule, am I correct?" he inquired pleasantly.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, here you are. Today, you will miss part of first period, because I will have someone escort you around the school. Let's go get Ms. Yukimura."

I followed him out of the office where the stares followed me until my departure into the hall behind him. The principal led me to a room where he asked a teacher for this Ms. Yukimura. She seemed a little upset about missing part of her class. He didn't seem to notice, though.

"Now, don't take too long to show the new student around. I don't want her missing too much of her first lesson," he advised.

She assured him. "Don't worry, sir, I won't."

She then turned to me. "Hello, my name is Keiko and yours is?"

"Haruko, but PLEASE call me just Haru. I hate being called by my full name."

"Okay."

She showed me where all of my classes were, and I took note of how to get to all of them. Hopefully, I wouldn't forget. After we were done, we went back to my first period class, and she dropped me off there.

"See ya later," she told me.

"You too," I responded in an effort to be friendly. We hadn't really talked much, but unlike most people she didn't judge me by what I was wearing. You could see it in her eyes. It was nice to know there were some accepting people out there. If only the same could be said of my new teacher. When I showed him my schedule and he looked it over, I swear I could of saw a look of shock cross his face before he looked at me with contempt. Dude. It's a schedule. What the hell? How the hell…could that have upset him? Sometimes I really just don't understand people.

"You will sit over there Ms. Urameshi," he spat out the last part. Okay, rat man's getting on my nerves now. I tried to be nice and not discriminate against him, because of his rat-like features, but I didn't really care now. Yes, I know I'm kinda being a little hypocritical, but he started it. Who the hell has buck teeth this day and age? Seriously, the guy must have either been a rat or a bunny in a past life. I'm betting on a rat, because he was too ugly to be a rabbit. I listened to rat man's voice for the rest of the period. Jeez, the guy even sounded like a rat. It's creepy. I think I'll bring in a carrot tomorrow and leave it on his desk. I wonder if he would get the joke. (AN: For those of you who are slower or haven't seen the beginning, this is Mr. Akashi.)

The rest of the day wasn't so bad, if you took away the classmates that stared at me in an annoying way. Oh, and let's not forget that jerk of a teacher named Iwamoto. I'd like to show that guy a thing or two. Apparently, there is this kid in the same class who has the same last name as me, and he was indirectly commenting on likenesses I had to this person. He acted as if I had already done something wrong. He called me stupid in front of the class, because I had started brooding about how much I disliked the guy and missed his question, because he, just like rat-man, looked at my schedule and then started acting like a prick. They should get married. Oh, the horror. They'd tag team me.

I'll show him when we have that stupid test he was talking about. I'll show him by getting the highest grade in the damn class, as long as I don't get too distracted by lingering thoughts of how much I hate him.

On my way out of school, I saw Keiko, and tried to get her attention, but she didn't hear me. She seemed very intent upon whatever it was that she was doing. I followed her up the stairs and onto the roof. What the hell had she come up here for?

Now, she was yelling at a guy who was sitting against the wall and chewing a piece of gum. They were in the middle of a minor spat, when he stopped arguing at the sight of me.

"Who's that?" he asked. Keiko was about to yell at him, but then turned and saw me. She blushed lightly in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that.Yusuke and I were just having an argument. That's all. He barely ever goes to class."

I really didn't care all that much. "That's okay. Wait. You're that guy that stupid Iwamoto guy was on about, aren't you?"

"Probably. That jerk never has anything nice to say to anyone," the greasy-haired teen concluded.

"Tell me about it." I remarked, chuckling about his comment's truthfulness. "I'm already on his shit list just for having the same last name as you. I'd wager he thinks we're related, which is pretty stupid when you think about it, since I come from the States."

"What a moron. I don't have any cousins. Though, I do have to admit, you remind of my mother. Whatever. He probably thinks you're a delinquent like me. Then again you are being kind of insubordinate by wearing a variation of the uniform," he replied.

"Yeah. He and Rat man are already upset about that. As far as I'm concerned, though, they can shove their sexist opinions right up their ass."

"Rat man? Are you talking about Akashi?" he snickered.

"Who else?" I snorted.

He started laughing. Keiko seemed a little surprised, and she kept looking from me to Yusuke. "So, who is this girl, Keiko? She seems pretty cool."

"She's a new student from America."

"Call me Haru." I interrupted. "Well…I better get going. The lady I'm staying with will probably have a fit if I'm late, and I don't want to worry Suichi by not showing up on the bus. Later!"

I left then, missing Yusuke's facial expression switch to one of curiosity.

"You don't think she meant Kurama Suichi, do you?" he asked, turning to Keiko.

Keiko shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not, she said she was staying with an old lady. His mother's not that old, is she?"

"Nah… That reminds me, I'm supposed to go up to Grandma's today," he groaned.

On the bus Kurama and I were quiet. We weren't sitting anywhere near each other due to the sheer volume of people crammed into the bus. Once we got off we started talking, though.

"So, how was your first day?" he asked politely.

"It was okay." I replied trying to give a neutral assessment. "It's the same as any other school, except I think I have more teachers who don't like me here. Jeez, I didn't even do anything."

"Make any friends?"

"I'm not sure if you could say that. I just met some people." I answered honestly. "They seemed nice, though. The first one was the girl who escorted me around the school. Her name was Keiko, and the second was this guy named Yusuke Urameshi. She was yelling at him for not going to class. I can't really blame him. The teachers talked so much crap about him."

"Interesting. You met both Yusuke and Keiko."

This caught my interest. "You know them?"

"Yes, actually I do," he replied, peering at the ground while thinking.

"They were the only ones I seem to be able to talk to for now."

Quickly thinking over the coincidence, the redhead spoke, "Well, maybe you and Yusuke are related and actually have a lot in common and that's why you get along. Keiko, on the other hand, unless you're truly an ill-natured person, you can get along with her."

"I might as well be related to Yusuke the way everyone's been treating me." I responded. "It would be nice to know that we were just so I know that people aren't making a fuss when we're not even related. I can relate to both of them pretty well. They reflect the different aspects of my personality. Yusuke I can relate to because he's misunderstood by most of the student body, and is very argumentative and sarcastic. Keiko on the other hand I can relate to because she's like the side of me that wants to do everything well to make my mother happy."

At this, he simply nodded understandingly.

Once we got back to the shrine, the old lady was sitting out there seemingly waiting for us to return. For what reason I didn't know and I didn't want to know once I found out what that reason was. Kurama, on the other hand, didn't complain at all.

"I've been waiting for you two," she started. Somehow I knew I wasn't going to be happy about this. "You are to meet me on the other side of those woods. Kurama, as you already know, this exercise is not meant for you."

Now I knew why he didn't have a problem with this, because this wasn't his chore. Why the hell was the old hag picking on me? Not that it really mattered much, but I just didn't like jumping through hoops for anyone. I mean, how hard could it be to walk through the stupid woods to that stupid hill? What? Maybe thirty minutes out of my day at most. This didn't stop me from asking, "Might I ask why?"

"Did you even read the contract you signed with the school?" she asked, irritation clearly in her voice.

"Well, I, uh, started to. I got to the second page and I said the hell with it. I was really tired that night. Why? Was there something important I should know about on the third page? What has that got to do with this?" I explained and began to wonder if I'd agreed to some form of indentured servitude throughout my stay. I didn't mind working around the house, but there seemed to be more to this.

"Dimwit. On the third page it said you would be staying here and were required to undertake training under me," she told me, her exasperation still evident in her voice.

I demanded. "What? I want to see this."

Dude, was she expecting me to ask that question? She pulled it out from behind her back. For people that just met each other we can predict what each other are going to do pretty easily or at least she can. She turned to the third page, and I found that she'd even highlighted the part she had just mentioned. The old hag must get pretty bored up here.

"Fine. How hard can it be to walk through the stupid forest anyway?" I said, partly to myself, partly to her. "That can't take anymore than thirty minutes and that's if I walk really slowly. What am I training for? The special Olympics or something…"

Grandma continued," There's one more thing. If you're not there in two hours, you have to do it all over again, and so on."

"What about my homework?" I half-yelled.

"I guess you better do it fast enough the first time, then." Then, she fixed on me a steady, I-mean-business stare.

"This is stupid. Walking through a forest is easy. Hell, I don't even have to lug around by bags this time," I confidently assured myself.

She looked at me; seeming the most amused I had seen her throughout the entire conversation. Twenty minutes later I found myself cursing loudly at every little thing. Apparently, this wasn't as easy as the old hag had made it out to be. She had neglected to tell me I'd be getting attacked by evil demented creatures that I'm sure even National Geographic doesn't know about. At first, I thought I was losing my sanity. Now I was somewhere between thinking this was all in my head and actually believing the thing that I was fighting was real.

Genkai's POV

There is where I left her at it. She was expecting it to be an easy task, and I was amused that she was gullible enough to think that there wouldn't be a catch. Even if she had suspected one, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one she thought it was. I laughed at her silently as she left. She was much like Yusuke. While this did provoke humor it also provoked irritation. He had taken the path that he thought had been the easiest instead of following his instinct to stay away from certain areas. She was doing the same thing. Granted, she had less of a clue as to what was going. I would have to teach her to trust her instincts as I had taught Yusuke. She was moving rapidly through the forest until she came upon Baldoc's territory just as the Dimwit had. I was a bit worried, because I knew that when Yusuke had taken on Baldoc, although he had still been a novice spirit detective, he had had problems beating the demon bat. She had no experience, and wasn't even aware of her spirit energy, which seemed to be hidden in her as Yusuke's had been before his death. As strange as Yusuke's energy had been, hers was even more so, because it was even more well hidden than Yusuke's almost as if that had been done so on purpose. It was probably, because of Yusuke's experience as a ghost that his energy had been easier to sense. She and others had been able to sense Yusuke even when it was undeveloped. It had made him seem a lot weaker than he was. This girl's energy, however, was so well hidden that if I hadn't had the experience with and knowledge of spiritual energy that I had, I was sure I wouldn't have been able to have sensed it at all. If things went for the worse, I could always go in there and help the girl out. I knew I couldn't really do that, though. I had to ensure the girl knew that if she wanted to survive my training she would have no help in doing so. She still had a little less than an hour to finish.

Yusuke's POV

"So, Kurama, where's Grandma? Don't tell me she made me come all the way here and she left to go somewhere," Yusuke asked.

"Yusuke, you know Genkai's not one to forget an appointment. I do believe she is waiting for you over there on the hill," replied Kurama.

"It's a good thing I know the way around the forest now. I don't have to be slowed down by the stupid trees and weakling demons."

I took the shortcut, and Grandma looked at me expectantly, glancing up from her watch and after a quick glance to the forest. "So… what's the deal?"

"You'll see when she gets here," Grandma answered. "Assuming she beats Baldoc sometime soon, it shouldn't take too long."

"What? Did you get a new apprentice or something? Am I really that annoying? Or is this your long lost grandkid that you never told us about?" I asked sarcastically as I assessed the energy. "I don't sense anything, but pitiful demons."

Grandma explained. "She doesn't know how to utilize her spirit energy, yet, Yusuke. Besides, it's cloaked somehow, Dimwit. If it weren't for my extensive experience and experimentation with spirit energy, I myself wouldn't be able to sense it."

Haru's POV

Ow…ouch….ow…ow! Oww!!! This Baldoc thing is so dead once I get my hands around its scrawny neck. The problem, though, still remains in determining how in hell I'm going to do that. Granted, it's not nearly as fast as that oversized, weird bird I caught sight of yesterday morning, but the bugger is still very fast. Touching the thing at all is proving to be extremely difficult. I'm sure, however, that once I get my hands on him he's a goner. Now, a plan began to formulate in my mind. The thing seemed obsessed with killing me and eating me so I would take advantage of this. It was better than the status at the moment. There seemed to be a pattern to his attack. What a moronic creature. It attacks in the same pattern. The reason it took me so long to figure that out was because of my frustration and anger at not being able to do more than block the stupid talking bats' attacks. What made it more annoying was the fact that it liked to toy with its food by pissing it off through speech with its overly annoying voice. It's a good thing that I started using my brain, because I'm pretty sure I'm getting thin on that time limit that the old hag had me on. If I've got this right then in about two seconds he should be striking at my side on the left. My clothes were torn. It's a good thing I had changed out of my uniform. On top of that, I had claw marks just about everywhere. All of them were bleeding, but only a few of them were deep. This thing was really into tormenting its prey. Seeing as I was obviously nowhere near giving up, he hadn't decided to deliver the killing blow. It's a good thing that it's a complete and utter moron, or I might not have won. As it went by this time I jumped back just in time then jumped up and kicked the bat thing into a tree HARD. It was whimpering. The little bastard was whimpering. As frustrated as I was I took its neck in my hands and threw it into the tree. That'll teach the thing not to play with its food. Now to add to my list of odd occurrences I have now been attacked by a super fast talking bat thing. While I did think this was perhaps the strangest thing I had ever encountered in my life I had a feeling that my life was about to get a great deal stranger. I better hurry if I intend to make the hag's damn time limit.

Genkai's POV

She was coming up the hill now. I could sense it. Apparently, the Dimwit could hear her, too. When I looked over at him, a look of confusion and recognition had crossed his face. Yusuke called out to her, "Haru? What are you doing here?!"

Concern was evident in his voice to someone who had spent as much time around the kid as I had. She was covered in slashes from her encounter with Baldoc. She looked a bit peeved.

"Because I signed a contract with my school that brought me here," she started muttering, but her voice began to rise a bit. "Why? What's it to you?"

"You know Genkai. All things considered that's kind of weird." Yusuke commented a little perplexed by the odd coincidence.

She looked at him quizzically. "Explain."

Yusuke began. "You're the only person other than my mother that I've ever met in my entire life with the same last name as me, and you're also from America, and coincidentally you just happen to be going to my school and know Grandma."

"Yeah, I guess that is kind of…weird." I replied, somewhat unsure of how that was relevant, but seeing the connection.

"Somehow, I don't think its mere coincidence," he continued casting a demanding look towards the old woman. "By the way, Genkai, I never asked what she was doing in the forest."

He then turned back to me, directing the question at me.

"So…why were you in there?" he inquired, rather than implying a question this time.

"Someone made me," she said in a voice that clearly conveyed she was very annoyed with me. Not that I cared. She also glared at me as she finished her brief statement.

Deciding to move on, Haru started to appraise my "pest problem" still not allowing her frustration to leave her voice.

"You really need to get animal control out here and take care of that bat thing in there. I know you might think I'm crazy, but that thing was actually talking."

"Suck it up. You beat him, didn't you?" I returned in an equally irate voice. I hated listening to whining, and I wasn't in the mood to explain demons to her, yet. The Dimwit was looking at me expectantly. Apparently, he had been expecting me to tell her.

Her jaw dropped, eyes dilated, and eyebrows were nearly knit together in consternation. "What? Do you mean…YOU MEANT for that to happen?!"

I didn't plan on denying it.

"HELLO! That thing could have torn me to shreds! Are you crazy sending someone into that place! You've gone completely senile! That thing probably gave me rabies or worse!" she began to rant, remaining wide-eyed and emphasizing her alarm with arm gestures.

"The Dimwit," I replied flicking my cigarette bud in Yusuke's general direction. "went in there as well. I'd say he came out of it better for it. So, stop your whining. Demons don't get rabies."

The whining comment almost made a vein pop out of her head. "Well, EXCUSE ME if I don't think it's normal to be attacked by a talking bat that moves faster than most airplanes!"

Then slightly more calm she asked. "What did you mean by 'demons don't get rabies.'?"

"You're training her too, then," Yusuke commented randomly.

I decided to ignore her and answer Yusuke's question.

"As you have already suspected, Yusuke, her being here is not mere coincidence. King Enma has been doing background research on your family. She is the only one that he felt he had to worry about. Koenma's been protecting her for a while now. Don't ask now. I'll give you the details later. Coincidentally enough, she has an interest in Japan and has been taking Japanese for several years. He set up the study abroad program, hoping that she would go, and she did. From there we set it up so that she would come here. I am training her. Even though, I'm not as sure as Koenma is that this is such a good idea."

The girl had gone quiet, interested apparently in what I was saying. However, she did seem somewhat annoyed that I had ignored her question.

She began seriously and cautiously, "Yusuke, you aren't a spy for the government or something, are you? Is this Koenma person trying to make me one, too?"

I quirked an eyebrow. Given what I had said, I guess I could see how she had come to such a conclusion. Yusuke on the other hand had reacted by nearly face faulting.

"Okay, Grandma, you gotta tell her now, or she'll think I'm an ex-assassin for the government and completely freak out."

I let out an annoyed sigh. I knew I was going to have to explain it, but I had been putting it off, because I wasn't sure how his cousin would react.

"Okay well, since I was obviously way off the mark, can someone please tell me WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Yeah, another chapter done! Is anyone out there reading? Please R&R. It'll at least make me feel like I'm not doing this for nothing. Hope you liked it. Next chapter enters baby ruler of Spirit World, the one, the only…KOENMA! Look forward to the next chapter entitled You Work for Jesus???


	3. You Work for Jesus?

Welcome, readers. Hope you like my next chapter and as a side note, I can't wait until the Bleach movie comes out. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, no matter how much I may wish it were otherwise.

Chapter 3 You Work For Jesus???

Koenma POV

I was craving a drink.

"Ogre, get me my raspberry tea," I commanded. Ah, times like this made my life really seem like I was living the high life. In truth, I was, just not the stereotypical one. Working was more a part of my life, and luckily for now the duty I was performing at present was fairly laidback.

"Yes, sir," the big blue guy replied and then whined to himself in a low voice, "Would it kill him to call me George?"

I gave George a shut-up-and-do-what-your-told look. "I'll call you George when you quit being so clumsy, quit complaining, and do your work properly."

"Koenma sir, that hurt," he whined. Here I am the one who looks like a toddler and I have to listen to a big blue ogre whine!

"George, hurry up and get me MY RASPBERRY ICE TEA!"

He scurried off hopefully towards the kitchen to fetch me my drink. Now to more important matters. I had been watching Yusuke's cousin since she set foot on Genkai's property. I even got some amusement watching her struggle up Genkai's stairs with her excessive luggage, and watched her face off with Baldoc. I'd also heard Genkai speak when she said she thought it was a bad idea for me to have her train the girl. I was just trying to keep her under my control or let it appear that way to my father. Pretty soon I'll have her do assignments for me. Genkai is worried that the more trained she is, the more insecure my father will feel whether he admits it to himself at first or not. However, considering the situation with Yusuke, I think I'll be able to reason with him. I got him to agree to my training her with the argument that it would inspire Human World loyalties as it had in Yusuke seeing as he hasn't harmed anyone in the Human World. To be honest with myself, my decision was also based in part of a big demand for a spirit detective and zero supply. Renegade demons had found a new method of getting through the barrier. As weak as most of them were, they still required someone to track them down with some spiritual gift. Unfortunately, there was also new speculation from the Spirit Defense Force that higher-class demons dissatisfied by the new law were beginning to investigate a means to using the new loophole.

Anyways, what was catching my attention now was the fact that they were telling her all about Yusuke's job. I can't wait to see how she will respond to this. While I will laugh a lot if she thinks they've lost their marbles it will also be more difficult for me to control the girl.

I was to be disappointed. While she did appear to be somewhat skeptical, for the most part she seemed to be buying it. I was watching the screen now.

"So, you're telling me that Yusuke works for God and kills demons for him?" with eyebrows raised, she asked for confirmation of her understanding.

"Actually I work for King Yama's son."

"O...kay…then that means you work for Jesus. Wow. Never would have expected that. I liked my original theory better. It was so much more credible. However, I can't deny the fact that I just beat the crap out of a relatively large, talking bat that wanted to kill me. I guess I could consider that demonic," she stated trying to maintain an open mind to all this.

"Jesus! You think Koenma is Jesus! Hahahaha!" Yusuke roared with laughter.

One of her eyebrows then begin to twitch in irritation. "I'm glad you're so amused, but I thought it was a perfectly justifiable conclusion. So, if he isn't Jesus then who is?"

"Well, I'm not particularly religious, and it never really occurred to me to ask. I hope he's not Jesus, or you're gonna be sorely disappointed."

Trust Yusuke not to think of something like that.

Yusuke's POV

I was curious myself. Was there really a God and did he really have a son? The idea had never really come to me at all, and if Koenma and his uptight father were the real deal, well let's just say they are not getting any praise from me. If that's who Koenma and his father King Yama represented then I certainly would have to tell Haru that they're not as great as professed. That would prove to be difficult. Religious people can get really scary when they are really devout and you try to tell them something otherwise than what they believe. This could be bad. I hope I'm wrong. Maybe she's not totally devout, and I'll get lucky.

"Why don't we ask him ourselves?" I suggested.

Haru turned to me. "I don't know. Do you think he would mind? If it really is him, I don't want to offend him."

Grandma was giving her a surprised look. It appeared that Haru was very serious about this. This was becoming a precarious situation. I pulled out my compact.

All the seriousness immediately gone her face, Haru suddenly fell over. This worried me and Genkai, and we both looked over to see if she was alright. She was rolling on the ground seemingly convulsing. She wasn't having a seizure, I could tell that much because she had use of her arms and was placing them over her mouth.

"Grandma, is she alright? What's wrong with her?" I asked sincerely.

She was turning blue in the face. Why didn't she move her hands, so she could breathe?! Genkai went up to her and pulled her hands from over her mouth. Immediately, Haru burst into laughter. Genkai smacked her upside the head and she finally stopped. She was now holding her stomach.

I gave her a look that clearly and intentionally asked, what the hell is your problem?

"What the hell was that all about?"

"You…you…wear make up," she said barely containing her laughter. "I…I didn't know you were so in touch with your feminine side. Haha!"

I was tempted to go hit her, but I know I would've done the same thing. Heck, even Kuwabara had a similar reaction, though I was reluctant to make comparisons between the two. I opened the compact and she snorted.

"It's not makeup," I said a matter-of-factly, holding eye contact so she knew I was serious.

She stopped and then came over and examined it with curiosity. "It looks like a miniature T.V. That's cool. Where'd you get it? I've never seen this model before."

"It's not a T.V., either. This is what I'm gonna use to talk to Koenma." I nearly smacked my forehead, but reminded myself that all of this was new to her. I needed to be patient, but unfortunately that was one of those less-appealing virtues.

"Oh." She simply replied.

Now she was looking over my shoulder as I paged Koenma.

"Hello, Yusuke. What's the problem now?" A toddler replied on the other end.

"Well, Koenma…" I began, but wasn't about to finish anytime soon.

Haru face faulted before I could finish. "That's Ko...Koenma?"

She was trying to hold in her laughter again except this time she wasn't as successful as last time. Tears were forming in her eyes, and then she burst into laughter and began kicking the ground at Koenma's expense. "Yusuke, I think I see what you mean."

I felt inclined to add, "Oh no, that's not all. You haven't even got to know him, yet. He's a coward, withholds important information, yells at his workers, and throws a tantrum when he doesn't get his way."

"While that is amusing, Yusuke, let's get on with the question," Koenma, with an annoyed stare, requested in order to change the subject which was hardly flattering to him.

So, I laid the issue on the table for him. Let's see how he'll handle it. "Ok, say Koenma. Who's Jesus? Haru is really worried that it's you, and I don't have any real answer. I know for a fact that you can't be him considering all the stories I've heard at least."

The pint-sized ruler explained with hesitance at first. "I'm not really supposed to answer these kinds of questions, Yusuke, but all right. While I would like to say that I am him I'm not, and neither is my father. God put me and my father in control of Spirit World. Unfortunately, Father makes me do all the work, and just checks up on me every once in a while. God rules over all the worlds."

A sigh of relief escaped me as well as Haru. Then she pointed at me.

"You work for a toddler. That's hilarious."

"Oh, shut up. Your new look is what's hilarious. I hope you brought a lot of extra clothing, because Genkai's gonna make sure you're out of a wardrobe. I hope you like shopping. I still remember how much clothing I had to buy."

"Oh, shut up."

Haru's POV

What have I gotten myself into? When we returned to the temple both Yusuke and Genkai thoroughly explained Yusuke's job, and Yusuke talked about what had happened to him since he'd started the job. To be honest, I was starting to get a little nervous about all this business. Genkai also told me about Koenma's plans to make me into another one of his spirit detectives. Aside from nearly getting hit by a car several times and being approached by creepy men (in one instance, with horns), I'd never been in true danger my entire life. I'm getting nervous about this. The next time I sign something, I'll pay real close attention to it, and actually read what it is I'm agreeing to. I don't feel obligated to be a spirit detective, because it wasn't on the contract. I'm sorry, but after hearing about everything Yusuke had been through since he'd taken up the job, I wasn't interested. Nope, I value my skin, thank you, and I don't owe Koenma a thing. I just better make sure I don't get killed in some freak car accident like Yusuke. If a toddler thinks he can boss me around, he's got another thing coming. My only problem now is that Genkai will be training me, which means I won't be able to avoid fights with demons. From what I understand, they'll be attracted to my unique energy. Not that I hadn't already had any encounters. I just hadn't understood. I wouldn't have to worry about anything in the really higher levels since they couldn't get through the barrier so I should be okay. So, why do I feel like I'm gonna get dragged into this anyway?

Genkai's POV

If Yusuke had been lazy when I had met him, his cousin was worse. Apparently, in America the students aren't required to take P.E. anymore after the completion of their tenth grade year, and she hadn't done anything at all to stay even in moderate shape since. To my relief, I found she seemed to actually care for her schoolwork. She had expressed concerns and doubts as to what she was going to do as a career unlike Yusuke. She said she had found a number of things that she thought were interesting, but there wasn't one thing that stood out more than the others. Also, the Dimwit's cousin claimed she couldn't find one thing in particular that she was really good at, so it confused the issue even more. Luckily, she also seemed a bit more reasonable than Yusuke unless she got frustrated. Once that happened she didn't think straight at all, just like him which could expose her bad temper that they also shared. The main difference between the two was that she was more responsible. I suspected it had a lot to do with how they were raised. His aunt had been a lot more responsible in raising her daughter than his mother had been in raising her son.

"I'm back," Haru called from the top of the stairs in front of the shrine.

I wasn't about to let her think I'd go easy on her. "It's about time. We've got work to do. Next time, if you take that long, I'll increase your chores."

"Jeesh, take it easy! The line was really long."

"Hm."

Haru POV

How did Yusuke endure this? I'm sorry, but he doesn't come across as the disciplined type. I guess they probably managed to obligate him in a similar manner as they had me. When I returned to my bedroom that night, I was utterly exhausted. I'm gonna die before this is over. I actually liked it in Japan if you took away all the bloodthirsty demons, talking toddler deity, cheery grim reaper, and psycho, senile grandmothers who put you through all the hell. Leisure time was greatly cherished and frighteningly enough I got used to these strange occurrences (fighting with demons that is) which happened quite frequently. It was almost beginning to seem as if I was another person with a completely different life, who just had the memories of someone else's past in them. I was beginning to think of this place as home even though I missed my mom a great deal as well as my friends. I guess this proves you can get used to just about anything.

Upon returning to the shrine, I had to ask, "Why exactly do I have to do this? I don't want to be a spirit detective. I was quite happy thinking that demons didn't exist."

"Because chances are with all of the Dimwit's enemies they'd find out about you, and might kill you. There are other reasons that you don't need to know about now as of now. All I can tell you is that you're being prepared for a reason and a damn good one."

"Nothing ever changes. Grownups never tell the kids anything even when it pertains to them," I huffed.

Yeah, another chappy completed! Wow, that reminded me of Bleach. Wonder who actually makes those things? Anyway, back on topic. I'm sorry to say that from now on I probably won't be updating so frequently, because what I've put down so far is content I wrote a while ago. I'm going to have to be coming up with ideas for now on. Not that anyone is going to respond but if you were to, I have other ideas about this general story that I'm not sure whether to put in here or as another story. They'll be involving mostly other characters, I think. I'm basically going to write about Kuwabara's parents, why they died, how this pertains to Yusuke and Kuwabara's friendship, as well as talking about another character with the assistance of my best friend, who is a fellow writer on Fanfiction. Therefore, if you decide to review, please tell me whether you would like it as a separate story or fused into this one. Well, have a Happy Thanksgiving, everybuggy!


End file.
